Interview with Jahred Gomes of Hed PE

Posted on October 26, 2010 - by Michael Duncan

The intros on your new album 'Truth Rising' are great.

I've always wanted to do intros, especially in the past when we did three major label albums, but because there were so many chefs in the kitchen it was always shut down. After the band broke up and reformed I kind of made myself the boss and prided myself on having some pretty elaborate intros. It's really important to me. I'm not saying every album will have them, but I really like to set-up the vibe of the album with something.

The intros work well on tour too, right?

Oh yeah, it's built for live shows. This will be the third album where the intros are constructed to be played live. We put the intro on a CD and then there's a certain part where it switches off and the band will kick in.

What kind of truth are you talking about on 'Truth Rising'?

Well, it's a lot of different things. One of it is trying to sift through all the political catch phrases and junk. There's also the organized religion component, there's the E.T. reality component and then there's blind consumerism. It's a broad concept.

There will always be political affairs and scandals; you'll never run out of material to write about.

[Laughs] That's for sure. The music is a reflection of my life and all the things I mention are issues that I'm dealing with everyday. As soon as an album is done I'm ready to do the next one. I'm always learning new stuff and have something else I wanna get out to the people who are listening. A lot of musicians will sit down and just write what sounds cool or what will work on the radio, but that's a dead end. There are never-ending topics here.

Do you think your songs will have as powerful a response 10 years from now?

I think it's safe to say that 2 or 3 tracks from each album may be timeless. Then again, some songs I don't even enjoy singing now because I'm in a different place spiritually, mentally and consciously.

Hearing Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust on your track "Stand Up" was quite a surprise. How long have you known each other?

I went on tour with him in the '90s but hadn't seen him for years until we recently played a show together. When I finished that song I thought Lajon would be perfect on it. So, we pulled it together and I'm stoked about it.

Did Lajon have a hand in writing the song?

No, the song was already written but it was just perfect for his style of vocals. I just asked him to do the melody with his style and it came out perfect.

What's your new track "Takeover" about?

"Takeover" is an aggressive battle rap song -- a hip hop battle track where it's just about attitude and about my band and sound taking over. The lyrics are lighter than most of the other songs. That's how life is to me. You can't be too serious all the time.

Do you feel a sense of pressure when trying to convey your message through your music?

A little pressure came when all of a sudden I figured out that my message was evolving from just pure bashing everything to a more selective bashing. I don't want to be part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution. There's been a bit of a backlash from those who prefer me to say "fuck everything," but at this point in my career I'm just about expressing myself sincerely -- I've learned that.

"No More Secrets" is one of the last songs on the album. Which secrets shouldn't be kept anymore?

One of the biggest secrets that would change the world for the better is the secret about extraterrestrial interaction with humanity. Most countries have given out the files, but the U.S. is one of the last to holdout on all this extraterrestrial documentation. It's all connected to the secret of free energy that we know is out there. There is a lot of leaking going on. Recently on CNN, 10 generals were talking about extraterrestrial crafts messing around with nuclear warheads. And generals have come forward with their testimonies of actually touching crafts. The truth is out there for anyone who wants to spend a half an hour researching. A lot of people have cognitive dissonance where they don't want to know the truth because it flies in the face of everything they've been taught.

Looks like you guys will be on tour with Suicidal Tendencies for about a month. Are you excited?

Yeah, we're totally excited about it. There's two versions of Hed PE -- one from the '90s and this new version. This new version has been really influenced by bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Minor Threat.